In the past decade, there has been increasing public awareness about environmentally friendly energy sources, sometimes called “alternate” energy sources. Most alternate energy sources suffer from poor efficiency and are unable to deliver power in the quantity or for the duration that would serve as a viable alternate to traditional energy sources, such as fossil fuels. Other alternate energy sources, such as solar panels or windmills, depend on certain environmental conditions for their processes to function properly. Other alternate energy sources depend on external pumps, compressors, or fuel sources to sustain the system. Such systems demand a high level of maintenance and may not be conducive to being transported to remote locations.
One known alternative energy system involves the buoyancy force of air rising through a liquid as a source of energy. The buoyancy force can be used to drive conventional energy conversion means, such as pumps or turbines. Examples of such systems are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,947 to DeMarco et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,165 to Uhl et al., both of which teach systems that are capable of recovering energy from the buoyancy forces generated by injecting a compressed gas into a submerged containment vessel capable of moving in water. However, these systems depend on an external gas compressor to provide an amount of gas sufficient to drive the system and generate the buoyancy force, as taught therein.
The present invention seeks to overcome these problems by delivering a system and process for recovering energy from buoyancy and gravitational forces while reducing, or even eliminating, the need for an external source of compressed gas.